Second chance at life

Mark Rusin

Mark and Marcie Rusin no longer take life for granted. After
Mark survived a heart attack and subsequent weeklong coma, the two
are happy to be together. They are making the lifestyle changes
necessary to live a long and healthy life.

Doctors, nurses and the medical staff at Oro Valley Hospital are
being credited for giving Mark Rusin a second chance at life.

Rusin, 56, is not going to be taking life for granted,
especially after escaping death.

Rusin says on July 15, he woke up feeling poorly, noting that he
hadn’t felt like himself for at least three days.

“I just wasn’t feeling right all week. Marcie (Rusin’s wife) was
on me, saying I should go get checked,” he said. “Me being hard
headed, I didn’t know if I had nausea. Friday is when it really
started.”

With a pressure on his chest, Rusin says around 3 p.m. Friday he
couldn’t breathe and drove himself to Oro Valley Hospital, which he
admits wasn’t the smartest idea. But his wife was at their Oro
Valley restaurant, The Loop Taste of Chicago, and the pain became
intense, and he didn’t think he had any other choice.

He arrived not a moment too soon. While the hospital’s
front-desk clerk asked for his personal information during
check-in, Rusin dropped to his knees. He was having a full-blown
heart attack.

Things took a turn for the worse. Dr. Gregory Koshkarian didn’t
waste time. The cardiologist put Rusin on the operating table.

Shortly after, Rusin’s heart stopped. Marcie remembers the
frightening moment when the doctors told her half of Rusin’s heart
was not functioning. Soon, he was put into a medically induced
coma.

With a breathing tube and life-support keeping him alive, Rusin
remained in a coma for five days.

In that time, Marcie said Rusin continued to struggle to stay
alive, with continued problems in his lungs, heart and kidneys.
With machines, ventilators and 28 lines of medication keeping him
alive, Marcie says things weren’t looking good.

“His lungs aren’t clearing, he gets pneumonia, and the next day
the kidneys go down,” Marcie said. “His body just kept shutting
down, and at one point they tell me it’s time to call the family.
When they say call the family, death is imminent.”

Rusin’s family drove in from Las Vegas and California to visit
him in the hospital. Meanwhile, Marcie started worrying because
neither of them in 25 years of marriage had written a will or
discussed what they would want after death.

“It was horrible. You think the man you’ve loved for 25 years is
going to die,” she says. “Your mind goes 100 miles an hour, you
think of the craziest things. You think of the cats because we
don’t have any children.”

Then just like that, everything changed. At 1 a.m. on July 20,
Rusin flatlined. Marcie described doctors and nurses rushing into
his room and closing the curtain. The medical staff used
defibrillating paddles to electronically shock Rusin’s heart, and
his heartbeat returned. Soon after, his organs started regaining
functions, and his prognosis, while still serious, improved.

“The doctors were wonderful,” said Rusin. “The whole staff was
amazing. That’s where I give all the credit.”

Rusin was released to a rehabilitation facility 11 days after
checking himself into the Oro Valley Hospital. He was back home
three days later.

“It was miraculous to come out of this and get out of there five
days after I had been in a coma,” said Rusin. “I just feel
fortunate to have dodged a bullet.”

Marcie said she’s still not convinced everything is OK, noting
that most cases like this have repeat heart complications in the
first year.

As a couple, the Rusins agree that Mark’s heart attack was a
wake-up call to get a will in place, and as uncomfortable as it
might be, discuss what should happen after death.

For Rusin, this second chance at life means overhauling his
lifestyle, from exercise and diet to maintaining acceptable levels
of stress in managing the couple’s restaurant.

“I know I almost died,” said Rusin. “I am looking forward to the
changes. Changes will be good. They are something I’ve needed. This
is just going to force me to make those changes.”